Method, system and device for navigating in a virtual reality environment

ABSTRACT

A method, a system, and a device for navigating in a virtual reality scene, using body parts gesturing and posturing are provided herein. The method may include: projecting a synthetic 3D scene, into both eyes of a user, via a near eye display, so as to provide a virtual reality view to the user; identifying at least one gesture or posture carried out by at least one body part of said user; measuring at least one metric of a vector associated with the detected gesture or posture; applying a movement or action of said user in virtual reality environment, based on the measured metrics; and modifying the virtual reality view so as to reflect the movement or action of said user in the virtual reality environment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/975,486, filed Dec. 18, 2015, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/093,493, filed Dec. 18, 2014, all ofwhich are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to virtual reality (VR)environment and more particularly, to a method, system, and device fornavigating in a VR environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Prior to the background of the invention being set forth, it may behelpful to set forth definitions of certain terms that will be usedhereinafter.

The term ‘Virtual Reality’ (VR) as used herein is defined as acomputer-simulated environment that can simulate physical presence inplaces in the real world or imagined worlds. Virtual reality couldrecreate sensory experiences, including virtual taste, sight, smell,sound, touch, and the like. Many traditional VR systems use a near eyedisplay for presenting a 3D virtual environment.

The term ‘Augmented Reality’ (AR) as used herein is defined as a livedirect or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whoseelements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensoryinput such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to amore general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of realityis modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented), by acomputer.

The term ‘near eye display’ as used herein is defined as a device whichincludes wearable projected displays, usually stereoscopic in the sensethat each eye is presented with a slightly different field of view so asto create the 3D perception.

The term ‘virtual reality headset’ sometimes called ‘goggles’, is awrap-around visual interface to display computer output. Commonly thecomputer display information is presented as a three-dimensionalrepresentation of real-world environments. The goggles may or may notinclude optics beyond the mere structure for holding the computerdisplay (possibly in a form of a smartphone).

The term ‘Virtual Reality navigation’ as used herein is defined asmoving throughout the virtual environment which results in a respectivechange of the scene projected onto the eyes of the user. It should benoted that VR systems do not usually maintain a one-to-one ratio betweenreal-world movement and virtual-world movement (e.g., a step forward inthe real world does not necessarily mean a step forward in the virtualworld). Consequently, input devices of all types are used in order toallow VR navigation by the user.

FIG. 1 shows a traditional virtual reality (VR) system in which user 10wears a head mounted stereoscopic display 12 (e.g., Oculus Rift™) whichprojects a synthetic image 15A and 15B of a scene (e.g., the Taj Mahal)onto each eye of user 10. Each eye receives the synthetic scene at aslightly different angle so as to create a 3D perception in the brain ofthe user. Additionally, head mounted display 12 may be provided withsensors such as accelerometers or gyros (not shown) that may detect inreal time the viewing angle or gaze direction of the user. As a result,the VR system may adjust images 15A and 15B to fit the new headorientation of the user. As this adjustment is carried out in real time,an illusion of the virtual reality imitating the head movements in thereal world may be achieved.

Beyond tracking the view point of the user as explained above, VRsystems provide a further interaction with the virtual world via inputdevices such as joystick 14 (or mouse, touchpad, or even a keyboard).Such an input device may enable user 10 to perform VR navigation usingvisual indicators. For example, the user may be presented with a visualindicator which he or she can move, for example a cursor 16A, 16Bindicated on stereoscopic images 15A and 15B over the VR scene. Then,responsive to a further action by user 10 such as pulling a trigger onjoystick 14, the user advances in the virtual towards the location he orshe pointed by the cursor. As user 10 is confined to moving one or twosteps in the real world, in the virtual world he or she can move aroundand walk long distances. Input devices as explained above are currentlybeing used in order to address the navigation problem in the virtualworld. Naturally, the use of such traditional input devices underminesthe overall user VR experience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system whichserves as an input device for navigating in a virtual reality scene,using postures and/or gestures is provided herein. The system mayinclude: a near eye display configured to project a synthetic 3D scene,into both eyes of a user, to generate a virtual realty environment; agesture-posture capturing device configured to derive gestures of atleast one body part of said user; and a computer processor configured totranslate the derived gestures of said body part into a movement oraction of said user in said synthetic 3D scene and modify the viewpointof the user of the virtual reality environment, based on the translatedmovement or action.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method fornavigating in a virtual reality scene, using postures and gestures isprovided herein. The method may include the following steps: projectinga synthetic 3D scene, into both eyes of a user, via a near eye display,so as to provide a virtual reality view to the user; identifying atleast one gesture or posture carried out by at least one body part ofsaid user; measuring at least one metric of a vector associated with thedetected gesture or posture; applying a movement or action of said userin virtual reality environment, based on the measured metrics; andmodifying the virtual reality view so as to reflect the movement oraction of said user in the virtual reality environment.

These, additional, and/or other aspects and/or advantages of theembodiments of the present invention are set forth in the detaileddescription which follows; possibly inferable from the detaileddescription; and/or learnable by practice of the embodiments of thepresent invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a virtual reality systemaccording to the prior art;

FIG. 2 is schematic diagram illustrating a virtual reality systemaccording to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A-3C are diagrams illustrating aspects of a virtual realitysystem according to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a possible architecture inaccordance with the virtual reality system of embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is flowchart diagram illustrating a method in accordance withembodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams illustrating more aspects according to someembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating another aspect of someembodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating yet another aspect of someembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating yet another aspect of some embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart diagram illustrating yet another aspect of amethod according to some embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating yet another aspect of some embodimentsof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressedthat the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes ofillustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the presenttechnique only, and are presented in the cause of providing what isbelieved to be the most useful and readily understood description of theprinciples and conceptual aspects of the present technique. In thisregard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the presenttechnique in more detail than is necessary for a fundamentalunderstanding of the present technique, the description taken with thedrawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the severalforms of the invention may be embodied in practice.

Before at least one embodiment of the present technique is explained indetail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in itsapplication to the details of construction and the arrangement of thecomponents set forth in the following description or illustrated in thedrawings. The present technique is applicable to other embodiments or ofbeing practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to beunderstood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is forthe purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Some embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system, anda device for navigating in a virtual reality environment by carrying outvarious bodily postures and/or gestures that are intuitive to the user.More specifically, a user may move his or her body or body parts in amanner that is being translated in real time by embodiments of thepresent invention to a predefined navigation command. Thus, certainpostures and/or gestures in the real world cause a correspondingmovement in the virtual reality world.

Some embodiments of the present invention first detect the predefineposture or gesture applied by the user and then goes on the measurequantitative metric associated with the gesture or the posture. Thesemetrics may relate to a vector that is associated with the posture orgesture and may include its length and spatial angles. In someembodiments, the metrics of the vector are translated to quantitativenavigation commands in the virtual reality world usually in a continuousmanner. Thus, the navigation command in the virtual reality does notchange unless a predefined terminating act has been performed by theuser. Such a terminating act may include resuming a basic posture orsome kind of hand maneuver.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a device 210 in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention packed and attached to itsimmediate environment 200 being a virtual reality (VR) headset 240(goggles) configured for use with a mobile device such as smartphone220. Device 210 may include an illuminator (e.g. laser transmitter) suchas an infra-red (IR) pattern illuminator 212, a camera such as an IRcamera 214. Device 210 may further include a pre-processor (not shown)configured to carry out initial image processing. Device 210 is furtherconfigured to physically and electronically interface with bothSmartphone 220, and the near eye display 240 that form together the VRheadset. Such a VR headset (goggles) may be arranged for use withsmartphones, as is known in the art, and usually includes a optics whichcan transmit the display of the smartphone (not shown—facing oppositeside), a sleeve 250 for accommodating smartphone 220 which may beinclude a camera 222, and a strap 230 for fastening the VR headset(goggles) onto the head of the user. It is understood, however, thatdevice 210 may interface with near eye displays such as Google Glass™and Oculus Rift™.

In operation, device 210 may serve as a means for providing VRnavigation commands using intuitive posturing and gesturing of one ormore body parts of the user as will be detailed hereinafter.

FIGS. 3A-3C are diagrams illustrating aspects of a virtual realitysystem according to some embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 3Ais a schematic diagram illustrating a VR navigation device 300 inoperation according to one embodiment of the present invention. User 10wears a near eye display 330 on which VR navigation device 300 may bemounted possibly but not exclusively as an add-on as explained above. VRnavigation device 300 may include an illuminator (e.g., lasertransmitter) 320 having a field of view (FOV) 322 and a capturing unit(e.g., camera) 310 having a FOV 312. Advantageously, both FOVs are largeenough to include the immediate surroundings of the user. For practicalpurposes it is important for the FOVs to cover any movement of bothhands, including extending both hands wide open to both sides of thebody. Therefore, a ‘landscape’ orientation of both illuminator andcamera are beneficial although a ‘portrait’ orientation is alsopossible. A non-limiting configuration can include a 55° horizontal FOVand 43° vertical FOV for ‘landscape’ orientation and 55° vertical FOVand 43° horizontal FOV for ‘portrait’ orientation.

In operation, near eye display 330 may be configured, possibly via anexternal computer processor such as of a mobile device (not shown) toproject a synthetic scene onto both eyes of user 10. Illuminator 320 mayilluminate a vicinity of user 10 and/or user 10 with patterned light324. Reflections of the patterned light may be captured by the capturingunit 310 and then analyzed by a computer processor (not shown here). Thecomputer processor may derive the type of posture or gesture that isbeing carried out by user 10. Here, an erected pointing finger 14 ofhand 12 of user 10 is being lowered from position 14A to position 14Balong vector 340. Once the lowering of the pointing finger is beingdetected as such, metrics associated with vector 340 are being furtheranalyzed in order to translate the metrics of the vector (in the realworld) such as direction and displacement, into corresponding navigationmovements (in the virtual world). FIG. 3B illustrates what user 10 viewswhen his pointing finger is at position 14A while FIG. 3B illustratesadvancement forward in the virtual world as the pointing finger of user10 has moved to position 14B.

FIG. 4 is block diagram illustrating a VR system 400B according to someembodiments of the present invention. System 400B may include or may bein operative association with a gesture-posture capturing device 402Bwhich may be configured to capture various changes over time in theposition and orientation of various bodily parts of a user or user-heldobjects. The position and orientation in denoted herein as ‘posture’while the change over time of the postures is denoted herein as‘gesture’.

In one non-limiting example, gesture-posture capturing device 402B maybe based on one or more visible light cameras that capture astereoscopic view of the scene. The video images are then beingprocessed using various image processing algorithms executed byprocessor 404B for deriving the movement of the user. Another possibleimplementation is the use of patterned light as described above wherereflections coming back from the scene are being analyzed for generatinga depth map from which postures and/or gestured are being deduced.

Processor 404B may be configured to receive raw data fromgesture-posture capturing device 402B (such as multiple video images orpattered reflections, depending on the technology) and using classifyingalgorithms executed thereon, to identify the posture or the gesture,based on predefined criteria (or database). Once the specific posture orgesture is identified, postures-gestures repository 408B may be used inorder to determine which form of VR movement or VR navigation activityis associated with the detected posture or gesture.

Thus, based on a dictionary stored at postures-gestures repository 408B,processor 404B may instruct near-eye display 409B to adjust the viewingpoint of the VR scene, as presented to the user, to comply with thecorresponding VR navigation activity. For example, user 410B may wavehis or her hand in a gesture 420B that may be interpreted by processor404B and repository 408B as ‘move forward’ in the VR scene. As a result,processor 404B may instruct near-eye display 409B to advance forward theviewing point of user 410B as viewed by near eye display 409B. As willbe explained and illustrated below in detail, waving the hand 420B canbe replaced with any other manipulation that imitates moving forward inthe VR world (e.g., swimming movements). It also should be noted thatnot only gestures may be used to invoke VR navigation activity but alsostatic predefined postures may do so. For example, the waving of thehand of user 410B ends when his or her hand is inclined upwards at aspecific angle. This posture may be interpreted—if so predefined—as anavigation activity command denoting ‘go forward’ and as long as thehand is inclined at approximately the specific angle, the user will keepmoving forward in the VR world. As discussed above, in at least someembodiments, gesture-posture capturing device 402B is external to system400B and can provide the raw data relating to the position andorientation, from a remote location.

FIG. 5 is flowchart diagram illustrating a method 500 in accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention. The process starts off withidentifying a posture of an object 510. Then, once the posture isdetected—a vector is derived from the object so that the vectorspatially represents the detected posture. Transferring the vector intoa navigation movement in the virtual reality, a continuous movementwhich is based on the length and the angle of the vector is applied inthe virtual world 530. The method then checks repeatedly whether atermination act or trigger has been identified 540. In case atermination act has been identified, the movement in the virtual worldends 550. In case a termination act has not been identified, thecontinuous movement is being applied repeatedly 530 until such atermination act is being identified. It is noted that the abovedescription is also applicable to gestures and not only postures.Applying it to postures is unique in the sense that even static posturesmay invoke movements in the virtual world.

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating an aspect relating to postures inaccordance with the VR system of embodiments of the present invention. Aseries of torso inclinations is depicted. Posture 611C is the baseposture from which all other gestures or postures are derived. Inposture 612C the user leans forward, an action in the real world whichmay be interpreted as a VR navigation command in the VR navigationdomain. As noted above, it can be either the shift from 611C to 612C(e.g., gesture) or merely the static occurrence of 612C (e.g., posture)defining an angle α that invokes the predefined VR navigation activity.

Similarly, a further lean forward in posture 613C may act as anaccelerator of the already operative VR navigation activity so that themovement will go faster as the angle here is .beta. being greater thanangle α. Going back to the base posture 614C may be regarded as atermination act and will usually eliminate the VR navigation activity,based on the context, or at least reduce its impact.

FIG. 6B is diagram illustrating another aspect relating to postures inaccordance with the VR system embodiments of the present invention.Here, the base posture is the two palms of hands 621D positioned at aspecific distance D1 apart from each other. Once the posture type isbeing identified (e.g., two palms extended side by side), a VRnavigation activity may be invoked in accordance with the measured valueof that distance, which in posture 622D becomes D2. As noted above,either the absolute value of D2 or alternatively the difference betweenD1 and D2 may serve as the metric that corresponds with the VRnavigation activity, as predefined by the repository.

In posture 623D the distance between the hands D2 remains the same andso, in accordance with some embodiments, this may be interpreted as anongoing navigation command although the hands are static and do not moveat all. In posture 624D, the horizontal distance between the hands D3 isbeing used as the metric that is being translated to a VR navigationactivity. It is understood that ratios, distances, and angles betweentwo or more body parts can all be used as metrics that arc interpretedas corresponding VR navigation commands or activities.

FIG. 7 illustrates yet another manner by which user 700A may invoke amovement or displacement in the virtual world. User 700A may tilt hisbody forward from position 720 to position 710 thereby defining alean-forward angle α. The leaning forward movement in real world may betranslated to a forward advancement movement in the virtual worldpossibly in a manner which is similar to controlling a Segway™.

Specifically, as long as the torso of user 700A defines a non-zero angleα between position 710 and base position 720, the forward advancemovement in the virtual world continues. The value of angle α may affectthe speed of advancement. As graph 700B illustrates that the movement inthe real world and the corresponding virtual world movement do notexhibit a linear relationship. Rather, as graph 700B illustrates, minorinclination of the torso does not affect the virtual world and onlybeyond a predefined angle α, the movement in the virtual world begins.Then, once movement in the virtual world begins, minor inclinations aresufficient to advance in the virtual world. Beyond a specific angle thesensitivity to torso inclinations is again being reduced so that anupper bound for forward speed is effectively imposed.

In some embodiments, the inclination of the torso of the user isdetected by analyzing a difference in a depth map generated by thedevice in position 722 and the depth map as generated by the device atposition 712. Specifically, as the view point in the real world changesduring the move from position 720 to position 722 so does the depth mapgenerated by the device. Analyzing the change in the depth map may beused to deduce the torso inclination in an indirect manner. It isunderstood that such a gesture may sometimes need a remote-externalcamera (not shown here) looking at the user.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating yet another aspect of someembodiments of the present invention. FIG. 8A shows a user in position800A with two hands 810A and 820A extended forward and adjacent to eachother. FIG. 8B shows a user in position 800B with two hands 810B and820B defining an angle γ between them. Once the type of posture of twohands extended forward is identified, the corresponding metric of theangle γ can be measured and be used as guidance for the navigationcommand in the virtual world.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating yet another aspect of some embodimentsof the present invention. Here, virtual reality navigation is invoked byraising the shoulders of user 900 possibly from position 920 to position910 defining a displacement 930 that may be measured and translated intoa corresponding navigation command in the virtual reality world. It isunderstood that such a gesture as described herein may require a remotecamera 940 which is positioned at the scene, directed at user 900.

FIG. 10 is a high level flowchart illustrating an aspect according tosome embodiments of the present invention. One challenge of embodimentsof the present invention is to differentiate between the change in gazedirection or the orientation of the head and a deliberate gesturing orposturing that affect the head position which should be interpreted as aVR navigation command. This differentiating can be carried out bysubtracting form the overall bodily gesture what is perceived to berelated to moving the head of the user for changing view point purposesonly.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, analyzingreflections of the patterned light may include subtracting movementcomponents affiliated with head movements of the user, to retrievegestures of the body part, relative to the head of the user. Theretrieved movements will be so-called “pure gestures” eliminating theundesirable head movements.

According to a possible non-limiting implementation, once a movement isidentified based on the reflections 1010, the flow goes on to checkwhether the head of the user has moved 1020. In case it did, it isfurther checked whether the hand has moved in a similar manner 1022. Incase the hand did, no action needs to be taken 1030. In case they moveddifferently, a subtraction of the head movement and the hand movement iscarried out 1040. In a case that that the head did not move, a checkwhether the hand has moved is made 1024. In case the hand did not, noaction is taken 1030. In case it did, a subtraction of the head movementand the hand movement is carried out 1040.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating the system and theenvironment according to one embodiment of the present invention. User10 wears a near eye display 1100 which further includes an illuminator1120 and a capturing device 1110. In operation, near eye display 1100 isconfigured to project a synthetic scene onto both eyes of user 10.Illuminator 1120 may illuminate a vicinity of user 10 and/or user 10himself or herself with patterned light 1122 reflections of thepatterned light may be captured by capturing device 1110 and thenanalyzed by a computer processor 1130 within near eye display 1100, toyield position and orientation as changed in real-time. In a case thatuser 10 performs a predefined gesture, a virtual input device such as ajoystick 18A/18B appear in image. User then can grab the virtualjoystick in the virtual world and control it using gestures in the realworld wherein the change of the orientation of the joystick is apparentin FIGS. 19A and 19B as seen at 20A/20B. It is important to note that noreal joystick is involved here—but rather a completely virtual one thatmay be any input device being virtualized. The postures and gesturescarried out by the user imitating gripping and controlling a joystickare at the focus of this embodiment enabling an intuitive bodygesturing.

In the above description, an embodiment is an example or implementationof the inventions. The various appearances of “one embodiment,” “anembodiment” or “some embodiments” do not necessarily all refer to thesame embodiments.

Although various features of the invention may be described in thecontext of a single embodiment, the features may also be providedseparately or in any suitable combination. Conversely, although theinvention may be described herein in the context of separate embodimentsfor clarity, the invention may also be implemented in a singleembodiment.

Reference in the specification to “some embodiments”, “an embodiment”,“one embodiment” or “other embodiments” means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but notnecessarily all embodiments, of the inventions.

It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employedherein is not to be construed as limiting and are for descriptivepurpose only.

The principles and uses of the teachings of the present invention may bebetter understood with reference to the accompanying description,figures and examples.

It is to be understood that the details set forth herein do not construea limitation to an application of the invention.

Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention can be carriedout or practiced in various ways and that the invention can beimplemented in embodiments other than the ones outlined in thedescription above.

It is to be understood that the terms “including”, “comprising”,“consisting” and grammatical variants thereof do not preclude theaddition of one or more components, features, steps, or integers orgroups thereof and that the terms are to be construed as specifyingcomponents, features, steps or integers.

If the specification or claims refer to “an additional” element, thatdoes not preclude there being more than one of the additional element.

It is to be understood that where the claims or specification refer to“a” or “an” element, such reference is not be construed that there isonly one of that element.

It is to be understood that where the specification states that acomponent, feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, “can”or “could” be included, that particular component, feature, structure,or characteristic is not required to be included.

Where applicable, although state diagrams, flow diagrams or both may beused to describe embodiments, the invention is not limited to thosediagrams or to the corresponding descriptions. For example, flow neednot move through each illustrated box or state, or in exactly the sameorder as illustrated and described.

Methods of the present invention may be implemented by performing orcompleting manually, automatically, or a combination thereof, selectedsteps or tasks.

The descriptions, examples, methods and materials presented in theclaims and the specification are not to be construed as limiting butrather as illustrative only.

Meanings of technical and scientific terms used herein are to becommonly understood as by one of ordinary skill in the art to which theinvention belongs, unless otherwise defined.

The present invention may be implemented in the testing or practice withmethods and materials equivalent or similar to those described herein.

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited numberof embodiments, these should not be construed as limitations on thescope of the invention, but rather as exemplifications of some of thepreferred embodiments. Other possible variations, modifications, andapplications are also within the scope of the invention. Accordingly,the scope of the invention should not be limited by what has thus farbeen described, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: displaying a synthetic3D scene; identifying at least one gesture or posture carried out by atleast one body part of the user; deriving a vector that spatiallyrepresents the identified gesture or posture; transforming the vectorinto a continuous movement or action in the synthetic 3D scene, based onat least one of an angle of the vector and a length of the vector,wherein a speed of the movement is based on a value of the angle; andmodifying the synthetic 3D scene to reflect the movement or action inthe synthetic 3D scene.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theidentifying the at least one gesture or posture comprises applying aclassifier to a database of predefined postures and gestures.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the movement or action in the synthetic 3Dscene is carried out continuously as long as the at least one of theangle of the vector and the length of the vector maintains a valuebeyond a predefined threshold.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein themovement or action in the synthetic 3D scene is terminated responsive todetecting a predefined termination act.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the movement or action in the synthetic 3D scene is terminatedresponsive to detecting a return of the at least one body part to abasic posture position.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifiedposture is leaning forward a torso of the user or raising shoulders ofthe user.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified posture isdefined by a spatial relationship between at least two body parts of theuser, and the method further comprises determining angles between the atleast two body parts and transforming the determined angles into thecontinuous movement or action in the synthetic 3D scene.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein the vector associated with the identified gesture orposture further comprises a spatial direction angle.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein identifying the least one gesture or posture furthercomprises subtracting movement components affiliated with head movementsof the user to retrieve postures and gestures of the at least one bodypart that are relative to the head of the user.
 10. The method of claim1, further comprising superimposing a virtual user-interface object intothe synthetic 3D scene enabling the user to apply gestures and posturesrelative to the virtual user-interface object.
 11. A system comprising:a device configured to display a synthetic 3D scene; and a computerprocessor configured to: identify at least one gesture or posturecarried out by at least one body part of the user; derive a vector thatspatially represents the identified gesture or posture; transform thevector into a continuous movement or action in the synthetic 3D scene,based on at least one of an angle of the vector and a length of thevector, wherein a speed of the movement is based on a value of theangle; and modify the synthetic 3D scene to reflect the movement oraction in the synthetic 3D scene.
 12. The system of claim 11, whereinthe computer processor is further configured to apply a classifier to adatabase of predefined postures and gestures to identify the at leastone gesture or posture.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computerprocessor is further configured to perform the movement or action in thesynthetic 3D scene continuously as long as the at least one of the angleof the vector and the length of the vector maintains a value beyond apredefined threshold.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the computerprocessor is further configured to terminate the movement or action inthe synthetic 3D scene responsive to detection of a predefinedtermination act.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the computerprocessor is further configured to terminate the movement or action inthe synthetic 3D scene responsive to detecting a return of the at leastone body part to a basic posture position.
 16. The system of claim 11,wherein the identified posture is leaning forward a torso of the user orraising shoulders of the user.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein theidentified posture is defined by a spatial relationship between at leasttwo body parts of the user, and the computer processor is furtherconfigured to determine angles between the at least two body parts andtransform the determined angles into the continuous movement or actionin the synthetic 3D scene.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein thevector associated with the identified gesture or posture furthercomprises a spatial direction angle.
 19. The system of claim 11, whereinthe computer processor is further configured to subtract movementcomponents affiliated with head movements of the user to retrievepostures and gestures of the at least one body part that are relative tothe head of the user.
 20. The system of claim 11, wherein the computerprocessor is further configured to superimpose a virtual user-interfaceobject into the synthetic 3D scene enabling the user to apply gesturesand postures relative to the virtual user-interface object.